New York. Frank, an amployee in an advertising agency, is nearing 60 and is about to reluctantly celebrate his wedding anniversary with his wife Kathy, and their two grown up daughters, Kaitlin and Sadie. The neurotic family is chaotic: Kaitlin is dumped by her lesbian girlfriend Darla, while Sadie dumps her boyfriend Patrick. Frank is both plagued by his midlife crisis and his remorse for his son Danny who committed suicide. After a wild party, he finally admits to his family that he had an affair and that he only married Kathy because he was afraid of staying alone. Kathy decides to break-up with Frank, but he unexpectedly bonds again with Kaitlin.
Jon Delgado's feature length debut film is another refreshing entry in the often used concept of drama-comedies about a dysfunctional family: "King of Knives" unravels like a more serious, 'grounded' edition of "The Royal Tenenbaums", featuring both real-life problems (suicide of a son; midlife crisis; people who are not satisfied with their life) and daft characters, and works more thanks to the latter, whereas it has some delicious writing at times. These two virtues blend in the excellent character of Kaitlin, who is cynical and wise-cracking in the first half (when her mother gives a heart-warming speech, Kaitlin tells her: "Don't go all Hallmark on me"), but becomes more emotional and humble in the finale, and tries to actively understand and accept that her father Frank is imperfect, but not deliberately harmful. The "unusual" moments are where this film works the best: for instance, the sequence where Frank is flirting with the younger woman Cassie, but she suddenly interupts him ("I have to pee, I'll be back in a sec!") is much more interesting than the grey dramatic moments. Several funny lines spice up the storyline ("I am thinking of buying a sports car", says the mother. This leads to an exchange with Frank: "Having a midlife crisis?" - "No, just trying to keep up with yours"; "She used all the kleenex in the house"). Frank does not undergo a character arc; rather, he just accepts his ageing and resorts to honesty. This culminates in the high point sequence in which he admits to the family that he had an affair and married out of fear, not out of love. You do not see such brutally honest, and direct characters that often. He even gives surprising words of wisdom to Betsy: "All relationships have about as much hate as they do love. And without the former, you cannot appreciate the latter." Real-life father and daughter Gene Pope and Roxi Pope deliver fine performances, and are sympathetic characters. Despite some minor flaws and limitations, this independent film has enough wit to cause a higher amplitude of events than your usual film.
Grade:+++
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